Monday, March 9, 2009

Sex Enters BART Cop Killing

Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 10:00 AM

In explosive new charges, Oakland attorney John Burris alleges that an illicit affair between a male and female BART officers may have played a role in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant, the Chronicle reports. Burris is representing Grant's family in a $50 million lawsuit against BART. According to court documents Burris filed last week, it was a woman BART cop who originally "got in the face" of young men at the Fruitvale BART station, including Grant, the night he was killed. The lady cop was threatening to Taser the young men, prompting Grant to get in her face. Her romantic partner then came to her defense and pushed Grant to the ground. The melee resulted in BART cop Johannes Mehserle shooting Grant to death while he lay face down on the station platform.

Burris doesn't name the female and male BART officers, but he said in a letter to BART police chief Gary Gee that sources from within BART police have told him that the couple's relationship was "unprofessional" and "an open secret" within the department. Burris says he knows who the male and female BART cops are, and will name them when the time comes. The next question has to be - why are these officers still on the force?

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